Surprising new destinations have emerged in a ranking of top corporate hubs frequented by Australian small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs) with Singapore achieving a 108 per cent increase in corporate travel bookings for the first quarter of 2023.
Corporate Traveller’s data ranks the top five countries and top five cities for business flights by booking volumes in the first quarter (Q1) of 2023.
The USA leads the list of countries for business travel followed by Singapore and the UK in second and third place respectively.
Two new countries entered the top five listings for the first time: Papua New Guinea and China – PNG achieved enormous booking growth for business travel with a 229 per cent increase on last year.
Comparing bookings with Q1 2022, Corporate Traveller found a shift in behaviour from when the top five business travel destinations were the US, the UK, Singapore, Fiji and Spain.
Corporate Traveller Global Managing Director Tom Walley said: “This growth in business travel is a testament to the business opportunities Singapore offers to Australian businesses. It’s reassuring to see the immediate recovery of business travel to these destinations now that restrictions have eased.”
Singapore is Australia’s largest two-way trading partner and fifth-largest trading partner in goods and services, which helps to explain why Australian SMEs are so keen to visit.
Aussie corporates’ top business travel cities
According to the Corporate Traveller data, Singapore also soared to the top for business cities, taking over London for the top spot.
London ranked in second place with Honiara, Kuala Lumpur and Port Moresby rounding out the top five cities for Aussie business travel.
Large mining opportunities in the Solomon Islands and PNG might contribute to the increase in business travel to these Melanesian nations, while Malaysia has seen significant growth in its e-commerce landscape.
“Australia’s continued growth in trade and business development in South-East Asian and Melanesian countries is demonstrated by the rise in bookings to these cities,” Mr Walley said.
“This also proves how beneficial in-person meetings are to developing international business relations.”
Find out which international city was #1 for Aussie business travellers in 2022 here.
For more info, head to corporatetraveller.com.au